University of Sioux Falls football vs. Augustana is a battle of the NSIC's best
If there’s anything the players and coaches for the USF and Augustana football teams agree on, it’s this: They are lucky to have the Key to the City rivalry game.
Somehow, the Vikings and Cougars managed to build up an intense rivalry by not playing each other for 26 years. It had a lot to do with Augustana being a mostly mediocre Division II team and USF being a mostly (at times wildly) successful NAIA team, and the players and fans arguing over which was a superior existence.
Being two blocks apart in the same city didn’t hurt.
By the time they were finally set to play in 2012, this back-and-forth had reached a fever pitch. Then they played, staging one of the most memorable football games ever played in South Dakota, a 32-31 Cougars win in double overtime before a standing-room-only crowd of 7,120.
Zimmer:The Key to the City game is always big. This year it's bigger than ever
One game – literally, one game, and this was already one of the best rivalries in Division II. It’s only gotten better since.
“It feels like it’s been going on for a lot longer than it has,” said Vikings receiver Logan Uttecht, who grew up in Sioux Falls and played at Washington High School before joining Augustana. “It’s just really cool, especially being two blocks apart. We’re always excited for this game because not a lot of college football teams get to take part in something like this.”
The Vikings and Cougars are usually in the playoff hunt, but this year’s stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. Both teams are 4-0, with Augie ranked 11th in the country and USF receiving votes in the Top 25 poll as they head into Saturday’s 1 p.m. kickoff at Augustana’s Jim Heinitz Field.
As if this rivalry needed something extra to add to the hype and intensity.
“I don’t know if you could even do that – how do you put a cherry on top of something that’s this amplified to begin with,” said USF coach Jon Anderson. “It’s gonna be a great atmosphere and we’re excited for it. We get to be a part of this every year, and that’s something we always talk about. But we address it and then get back to work. You have to be able to separate the two. That gets hard at kickoff time, but you settle in and then it’s football for 60 minutes, and we expect a good football game on Saturday.”
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Or, as Cougar quarterback Adam Mullen put it: “I think that it's Augustana is enough (to get us fired up). Records kind of go out the door in a game like this. I don’t think the fact that both teams are 4-0 has as much to do with our preparation as just what a big game this always is for us. It’s in the back of our mind all year long.”
Cougars have won seven of nine Key to the City games
USF has held the upper hand in the rivalry. They’ve won seven of the nine meetings since the series restarted, including last year’s 28-26 win at Bob Young Field in which a 2-2 Cougar team knocked off a 4-0 Vikings squad.
That improved USF’s record against the Vikings at home to 3-2.
On Augustana’s field, the Cougars are 4-0.
“That’s been mentioned,” Uttecht said.
USF was similarly tight-lipped about that stat. Both sides are well aware of it. One desperately wants to end that streak, the other deeply enjoys that it exists, and wants to extend it.
“History has treated us well over there,” said USF running back Thuro Reisdorfer, a former high school teammate of Uttecht. “We want to keep that going.”
Reisdorfer leads a USF offense that averages 239 rushing yards per game, while the Vikings defense was No. 1 in the nation last year and is tops in the NSIC again this season at 48.5 yards allowed. The Cougars are No. 1 in total offense in the league. Both teams are in the top five in scoring offense and defense.
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USF opened with three wins against losing teams, but are riding high after last week’s 34-31 win over a very strong Minnesota Duluth team. The Vikings, meanwhile, have two quality wins over Bemidji State and Northern State – both at home. They’ve won 13 regular season home games in a row (they lost a home playoff game last year), and had to fight to earn their wins over the Beavers and Wolves. They’re a mature football team, and they expect that to help them against the Cougars.
“It can help controlling our emotions,” said Viking safety Eli Weber. “I think sometimes in these big games – and I’m a victim of it, too, my redshirt freshman year, I remember – you’re in these big games and you play tight because you’re so amped up that you don’t think. You don’t communicate. You get away from the things you’re supposed to do. I think this team has what it takes to hold that composure for a full game.”
The Vikings began the season with 6-foot-7 Montana State transfer Casey Bauman as their starting quarterback, but after an injury to his non-throwing shoulder he was replaced by sophomore Thomas Scholten, who played well in Bauman’s absence.
Augie coach Jerry Olszewski indicated the Vikings may play both quarterbacks Saturday. Bauman is a superior running threat, while the passing game has been smoother under Scholten. Whoever is under center will be facing a Cougar defense that leads the league in sacks and is second only to the Vikings in run defense.
Neither coach objected to a suggestion that this is a meeting between the two best teams in the NSIC.
“They’re very balanced on offense – they move people, they understand their scheme, they’ve got three great running backs and a quarterback that can put it where it needs to go,” Olszewski said of USF. “Defensively they have a good front and they don’t hurt themselves. We’re well aware of what their strengths are, but we think there are things we can expose, and we’re going to have to do that to win the football game.”
How to watch University of Sioux Falls (4-0) vs. Augustana (4-0)
WHEN/WHERE: 1 p.m. Saturday at Jim Heinitz Field
TV: KELOXTRA
RADIO: KIKN-FM 100.1, KWSN-FM 98.1/AM 1230
ONLINE: NSIC Network
COACHES: USF – Jon Anderson (6th year, 36-14); AU – Jerry Olszweski (10th year, 60-35)
SERIES: USF leads 7-2
LAST TIME: USF won 28-26 last year at Bob Young Field
LAST WEEK: USF beat Minnesota Duluth 34-31; Augustana beat Northern State 21-13
RANKINGS: Augustana is 11th in Division II; USF is receiving votes
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: University of Sioux Falls football vs. Augustana: How to watch
